Maritime history in-depth
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For over 300 years explorers risked their lives to search for the North-West Passage - a passage which global warming may now be opening to shipping.
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The 'heroic age' of Antarctic exploration lasted from about 1901-16 and included the famous expeditions of Scott, Shackleton and Amundsen. -
Find out about Elizabeth I and her England, her court, her adventurers, her image and the threats to her rule. -
This A to Z of Nelson dips into aspects of Nelson’s professional and private life, and helps to explain why he is still a source of fascination. -
The story of two great leaders born 11 years apart who rose rapidly from junior officers to become celebrated national heroes. In English and French. -
The Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade was signed into law on 25 March 1807. Find out more in our gallery, online and print resources. -
These log books afford a fascinating insight into a superb sailor and the author of the celebrated 'Riddle of the Sands'. -
The epic small-boat voyages of Sir Ernest Shackleton and Captain William Bligh, both undertaken with only the most rudimentary navigation equipment. -
The fascinating tale of the mysterious disappearance of the Franklin expedition to the Arctic in the 1840s. -
The Royal Observatory was used as a triangulation point for the first series of surveys made by the newly-founded Ordnance Survey in the 1790s.